192 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
train staffs quickly accustomed themselves to the new requirements.
Among the completely equipped hospital trains, those provided by
the zemstvos were the simplest and cheapest; but the excellent care
given to the patients, together with the good food and the restful
suspended cots, found grateful appreciation by both officers and
men, as may be seen from the vast number of letters of thanks received
 by the Union. In the instructions issued to the doctors in
charge of the trains, attention was called to the importance of a
proper diet for the sick and wounded irrespective of cost. Nevertheless,
 during the first few months of the operation of hospital
trains the cost of food per patient was only 38 to 42 copecks a day,
instead of the 50 copecks allowed for in the estimates.
Upon arrival at their destination, the zemstvo trains were immediately
 set to work to evacuate casualties from Warsaw, Graev,
Suwalki, and Augustovo, during the October battles in these neighborhoods.


Supply of Hospital Trains.

The hospital trains required an uninterrupted supply of necessaries.
 Three cities were finally decided upon as offering the best
natural bases of operations, namely, Moscow, Belostok, and Brest.
At the two last-named places administrative offices of the zemstvo
agents were opened in railroad cars, trains were repaired, and sick
members of the staff received treatment. Accounts were settled,
money was received for expenses, patients were given underclothing,
and cars and equipment were disinfected. At Moscow the hospital
trains received a thorough overhauling and a more complete supply
and equipment. As a rule, the trains would be sent to Moscow once
in two months. The department took these opportunities to introduce
 some uniformity into the rather motley composition of the
trains and to make good the defects in those trains which reached
Moscow in a worse condition than the others. Profiting by experience,
 the department would from time to time instal better types
of kitchens in the fourth-class cars, and furnish them with iceboxes,
besides providing bandaging cars of the same type as those which
1ad been presented to the Union by the Polesie Railways. It also
astablished disinfecting rooms, etc. In one train, by way of experiment,
 a bathroom and laundry were installed. The trains used to
arrive at Moscow irregularly, and on occasion several at the same